Bournville deliver to stun Exeter students

Bournville 34 Exeter University 31 

Bournville produced the performance they had been threatening for a month to inflict a rare defeat on the students in a tense encounter at Avery Fields that was a superb advert for National Leagues rugby.

Having racked up consolation bonus points in four successive defeats Bournville earned maximum points for the second time this season with a resilient performance against lively opponents.

An interception try from Sam Grimshaw 13 minutes from time gave Bournville a ten points cushion, which was enough to help withstand Exeter’s late onslaught but the real heroes were in the pack.

Chris Idehen had an outstanding game both in attack and defence, lock Ben O’Sullivan played on despite having to have a dislocated finger re-set on two occasions and Kurtis Payne had a game-changing role as replacement tighthead prop.

Ryan Smeilus had fallen foul of the match officials on several occasions in the first quarter and the coaching team’s decision to make a tactical change by bringing on Payne proved a masterstroke.

The experienced front-row forward gave the students a harsh lesson in aggressive scrummaging in a performance that denied the visitors the possession they needed to unleash their dangerous backs.

At one stage in the second-half Bournville shunted Exeter’s scrums backwards from the 22 to halfway. Although the attack broke down with a knock-on just short of the line it did not matter. Another powerful scrum shunted Exeter off their own ball and number eight Jono Fanning dotted down for an important try.

Having warned after last week’s defeat at Loughborough Students that Bournville were not far away from putting together a performance that would produce a win, Head Coach Matt Price was delighted to see the players deliver.

“I said in the group afterwards that it was a really good performance. There were still some elements that put ourselves under pressure but you can’t knock beating second place in the league at home and getting five points so it was a cracking day,” Price said.

“There were two good things about it. We were on it from the start and we didn’t give them any time on the ball.

“We tried to get off the line quickly. We had worked hard on defence all week and looked at our energy.

“Secondly, when the pressure does come on, we talked about not panicking and trusting our system. They came at us in the last seven minutes when we went down to 14 men but we didn’t panic, we defended and got out of trouble when we needed to.

“The plan was not to bring Kurtis on that early but we noticed from the referee and the comments from the assistant referees that they were picking in Ryan a bit. I didn’t think he had a bad game at all, it was just what the referee’s view was. He thought he was hinging and causing an issue.

“So, we made that change early. Kurtis came on and added what he does – a big strong scrummager and a really good guy.”

The scrums apart, there was little between the sides in a fast and entertaining tussle with Bournville scoring on each of their first two visits into Exeter’s 22.

Owen Williams finished off a scything run from Will Aylen then collected a deft chip from Jacob Fewtrell who converted both tries and, crucially, added a penalty.

Exeter led by two points at the break after hooker Elliot Young and blindside flanker Tirion Bowen had crossed from close-range and centre Toby Ferguson on an overlap.

Fewtrell added a second penalty early in the second-half but the students soon regained the lead through wing Thomas Tribe but Bournville’s growing dominance in the scrum meant that the Students struggled for quality possession in the final quarter.

Fanning’s try was swiftly followed by Grimshaw’s interception – the centre racing over from his own 22 – which stretched the lead to ten points.

Exeter pulled back a converted try through replacement tighthead Archie Rolls six minutes from time after Bournville lost James Weaver to the sin bin.

The students did have an opportunity to level the scores when they were awarded a penalty within easy kicking distance but, under instructions from their coaching staff, they kicked to the corner and gambled on the win.

Bournville defended superbly, forced a turnover and ran down the clock to start the celebrations of a hard-earned but thoroughly deserved win.